John Linwood, who was in charge of the DMI project, left the BBC six months ago without a payout. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

The executive at the centre of the BBC's Digital Media Initiative, the IT project scrapped last year after costing licence fee payers nearly £100m, left the corporation without a payoff six months ago, it has emerged.

Responding to inquiries, a BBC spokesman said: "We can confirm that John Linwood is no longer employed by the BBC. His contract was ended in July 2013. He left in July 2013. We confirm he did not receive any payoff."

John Linwood, the BBC's chief technology officer, was suspended from his £287,000 a year post last May and had his contract ended in July, the BBC confirmed on Friday.

The failure of the Digital Media Initiative, or DMI, was a huge embarrassment for the BBC.

The ambitious DMI scheme was supposed to do away with the need for videotapes across the BBC and use digital technology to call up archive footage – but it was axed in May 2013 after £98.4m had been spent.

It is understood that Linwood is planning to take legal action having been in discussions with lawyers since the outcome of a BBC-commissioned PwC report into the failed IT project in December.

It is likely that this would be in the form of an industrial tribunal, according to sources. The BBC declined to comment on any legal action.

Confirmation of his exit comes less than a fortnight before former director general Mark Thompson is due to appear before the Commons public accounts committee on 3 February.

The digital debacle will also be the subject of a report by the National Audit Office, expected to be published later this month.

The 54-page report said a failure of governance and management oversight were to blame but found no single issue or event caused the DMI to fail.

Linwood's legal team is understood to have robustly defended his role in the project's failure.

The PwC report said that those running the DMI project did not provide a clear picture for "effective decision-making" on its future direction.

BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has also come in for criticism from MPs over the issue and was accused of "obstruction and secrecy" for after he ordered the corporation not to disclose key documents about the failed project.

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